Kabush and Dyck headline CrossVegas

Canadian Olympian Geoff Kabush (Scott-3 Rox Racing) and Mical Dyck will join a star-studded field at this year’s CrossVegas held on Wed., Sept. 19 in Las Vegas. It’s the first International Cycling Union (UCI) sanctioned Category 1 event of the season and is expected to host some of the best racers in the world.

Kabush, a multiple national champion in the sport, recently placed in the top 10 at the London Olympic Games in the mountain-bike event. He typically competes in several cyclo-cross races throughout the fall, beginning with CrossVegas and moving on to events on the U.S. Grand Prix of Cyclo-Cross (USGP) calendar.

“I’m in and looking forward to CrossVegas,” Kabush told Canadian Cycling Magazine. “I survived the post-Olympic let down, had some fun days over on Hornby Island, B.C., and kept things rolling well enough to have a bit of fight left at Worlds. I’ve certainly enjoyed the fact that the focus is off a bit now and have been enjoying a bit of time off the bike this week.

“I’m doing Crank the Shield this weekend and that should get the blood flowing and the legs going for Vegas. I’ve never had great legs at CrossVegas. It’s a bit of a challenge focusing on a bike race there, but I’m really looking forward to it. I can’t wait to see my new custom Scott cyclo-cross bikes all decked out with Shimano Di2 and the new Syncros gear. After Vegas, I’ll take a quick break back on the mountain bike at Trans-Provence, and then return to ‘cross racing at the Fort Collins U.S. Grand Prix.”

Last year, under-23 world champion Lars van der Haar (Rabobank) won CrossVegas ahead of Christian Heule (Cannondale powered by Cyclocrossworld.com) and Rob Peeters (Telenet-Fidea). Kabush placed a respectable 13th out of a field of almost 100 riders.

This year’s event will host Van de Haar, Peeters, Ben Berden and Bart Wellons from Belgium, Niels Wubben from the Netherlands, Christian Heule from Switzerland, along with U.S. riders Ryan Trebon, Jamey Driscoll and Tim Johnson (Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com), Todd Wells (Specialized) and U.S. champion Jeremy Powers (Rapha-Focus).

Dyck placed 15th in the elite women’s category behind winner Katerina Nash (Luna Pro), Amy Dombroski (Crankbrothers) and Kelli Emmett (Giant Bicycles).

The top women in this year’s Crankbrothers Ladylucx race include Nash along with her teammate and Olympic bronze-medallist Georgia Gould, Nicole Duck from the U.S. and Caroline Mani and Julie Krasniak from France, Sanne van Paassen from the Netherlands and Sophie de Boer from Belgium.